SDCC 2018: Geoff Johns Explains THAT Line Of Dialogue From The ‘Titans’ Trailer

It was the F**k heard round the world, or at least the nerdverse. Just yesterday morning, the long-awaited trailer for DC Universe‘ ‘Titans’ was unleashed and while overall, it’s a moody, exciting couple of minutes, the biggest jolt came at the beginning, when Robin (Brenton Thwaites) leaps down into an alley to thwart a gang of thugs. When one of them asks, “Where’s Batman?,” Robin sneers, “F**k Batman.” He then proceeds to brutally battle the criminals, apparently shooting some and breaking bones on others. While some knew to expect this darkness, those that intentionally avoid spoilers or were simply unaware of what to expect, this was quite a shock. NO DC superhero has ever uttered such a harsh expletive (outside of a Frank Miller comic) and the first was the once sweet, wide-eyed Boy Wonder?!

But as it turns out, one of ‘Titans’ executive producers, Geoff Johns was on hand, holding his own panel later and he provided an interview with Polygon, explaining:

“The trailer shows a piece of the tone of the show — the show’s not all that. But it does make you go, ‘Why is he saying [Fuck Batman?]’ If you look at when Robin first left Batman in the comics, there was a lot of uneasiness and him being lost. Titans is really a series about these different characters that are all lost in their lives; just like the greatest comic book Titans run ever, by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, it’s about all these lost characters find one another. And they’re all struggling with something, and Robin is clearly struggling with his past with Batman. And we’ll learn a lot more about it and what that is and why he is the way he is.”

It’s true; in the Wolfman/Perez ‘Titans’ comics, the once jovial Robin grew into an angry young man, who was sick of people thinking his name was “Batman & _____.” This rage eventually led him to discarding his super identity altogether and adopting a new one — Nightwing.

For anyone that didn’t know, those that have seen the full pilot have very emphatically warned that ‘Titans’ is absolutely NOT a kids show. In addition to explicit language, it is very violent and people are killed frequently, in some pretty graphic ways. It’s more in line with the Netflix series based on Marvel Comics than the prime time network fare on The CW.

Were you turned off by the language and violence in the ‘Titans’ trailer?

Jax Motes

Jax's earliest memory is of watching 'Batman,' followed shortly by a memory of playing Batman & Robin with a friend, which entailed running outside in just their underwear and towels as capes. When adults told them they couldn't run around outside in their underwear, both boys promptly whipped theirs off and ran around in just capes.